Neurodiversity Sites

Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. is the author of fourteen books including the forthcoming Neurodiversity: Discovering the Extraordinary Gifts of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Brain Differences. His other books include: In Their Own Way, 7 Kinds of Smart, Awakening Your Child's Natural Genius, Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, The Myth of the A.D.D. Child, and The Radiant Child. His books have been translated into 25 languages including Spanish, Hebrew, Chinese, Danish, and Russian. He has taught at several San Francisco Bay Area graduate schools including the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and the California Institute of Integral Studies. He has written for Ladies Home Journal, Family Circle, Parenting (where he was a regularly featured columnist), The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, and many other journals and periodicals. He has appeared on The Today Show, CBS This Morning, CNN, the BBC, and The Voice of America. Articles featuring his work have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Investor's Business Daily, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, and hundreds of other magazines and newspapers. He has given over 800 keynotes, workshops, and lectures in 42 states and 16 countries. His clients have included Sesame Street, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Republic of Singapore, Hasbro Toys, and the European Council of International Schools. He is currently working on a novel about the disappearance of childhood. For more information about his work, go to www.thomasarmstrong.com.

02/02/2010

Interview with Neurodiversity Advocate Kassiane

A recent interview on the blog Technoccult with neurodiversity advocate Kassiane (she didn't wish to give her last name), highlighted some key points about neurodiversity. In defining neurodiversity, she made an important distinction between the word and the movement, explaining: "Neurodiversity, the word, simply means the whole variety of different brain wirings people have…from the different kinds of normal to the different kinds of not so normal. Then there’s Neurodiversity, the movement which is the shocking idea that people with non standard wiring are human and deserve to be treated as such without being “fixed” first." Also significant was her emphasis on making the neurodiversity movement inclusive: "Autistic/Asperger people tend to make up the base of the movement, because we latch onto things so well, but we’re really inclusive…ADHD, learning disabilities, mental health issues, cognitive conditions like Down Syndrome, epilepsy, migraines, neurotypical allies, Not Diagnosed Just Weird…we’re accepting of pretty much everyone." I thought it was interesting that she included "neurotypical allies," as part of the movement. This makes sense, given the fact that the neurodiversity movement needs all the friends it can get to have a loud enough voice in the marketplace of ideas.